Make Memorial Day A True Buy Nothing Day

Watching from north of the border, it has always seemed odd to see ads for Memorial Day sales in the United States. It's a holiday honoring the fallen, solemnly followed since just after the Civil War, and it is celebrated by going shopping.

Perhaps the people who started Buy Nothing Day picked the wrong day, that Friday of the Thanksgiving Weekend. It should have been a day like today. The President, in his address, says:

No words can ever bring back a loved one who has been lost. No ceremony can do justice to their memory. No honor will ever fill their absence. But on Memorial Day, we come together as Americans to let these families and veterans know that they are not alone. We give thanks for those who sacrificed everything so that we could be free. And we commit ourselves to upholding the ideals for which so many patriots have fought and died.

Instead of going to the mall, go into the garden or into the streets and plant a tree.